New Drug Could Replace Neutering

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Alabama News Network

You could soon be able to save hundreds of dollars when it comes time to neuter your dog.

That's the promise of a new drug, but is it safe?

This new drug would drop the cost to fix a male dog to around $15, which would be very helpful to humane societies like the one here in Montgomery. But it's not without its problems.

Not only would it save people money, it would also save time, replacing the half hour long surgery with only a few minutes to inject a shot.

"In essence when we give an injection of this drug into the testicle, it prevents the dog from being able to have live sperm cells," said veterinarian Dr. Louis Gotthelf.

Dr. Gotthelf says the procedure could really help places like the local humane society, where a large portion of their budget goes to spay and neuter their animals.

"It's $100,000 a year to fix all of our animals. And then through grants and moneys that are made available by donors that we can do the spay montgomery program," said Steven Tears, executive director of the Montgomery Humane Society.

Dr. Gotthelf says this isn't the first time that he's seen a product like this. The previous injection, which came out about 10 years ago, had it's fair share of problems.

"What we found was that the injection was painful and that many dogs still were viable after the injection, they could still create offspring, they had viable sperm cells," said Dr. Gotthelf.

And the humane society isn't sure that the injection, which would leave the dog's genitals in place, would be the best way to go.

"I think we'd have to balance the cost to the actual being able to visually tell if the animals has been altered. It's fairly vital for us to be able to know without a doubt that the animal has been altered to be compliant with the state law," said Tears.

The drug is FDA approved but it isn't on vet shelves yet, but it could be as early as the end of the month.

The company claims that the new injection will be painless, but Dr. Gotthelf says he has his doubts about the procedure.